How to celebrate the Chinese New Year in London

Happy Chinese New Year! Yesterday we officially entered in the Rooster year, but in London the main celebrations were today. As I read, London hosts the biggest show outside of China, so I didn’t want to miss it!

Chinese follow the lunar calendar, so the Spring festival (other name for this celebration) changes date every year. In China celebrations last for a week, and it’s a time to spend with the family, like Christmas in Western countries.

As part of my new year’s resolutions, I have decided to start vlogging! Here my first attempt for you to enjoy 🙂

China Town – Chinese New Year

China Town was of course very busy, difficult to walk through the crowd but worth a visit. The area was completely decorated with red Chinese lanterns and the main show was the lion dance.

This is an old tradition. The lions go from house to house (or from restaurant to restaurant in the case of China Town), to send away evil spirits and bring good luck.

Trafalgar Square – Chinese New Year

Another big event was today in Trafalgar Square, not far from China Town, as you see from the map.

Look at the baggage icon!

I spent some time in front of the stage listening to traditional music – as you’ll see in the video! Unfortunately, the weather was quite ugly (surprise surprise) so there weren’t too many people.

Chinese Astrology

As you may already know, according to the Chinese Astrology each year is associated with an animal. There are 12 animals, and this year will be the rooster.

Something I didn’t know is that there is a combination with the natural elements too. Chinese believe there are 5 elements, slightly different from ours: water, fire, metal, wood, and earth. Elements rotate every two year.

This time it’s a fire rooster, and the next fire rooster will be in 60 years time! If you’re curious to know more, there is a whole website about it.

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